By ERIC TALMADGE
Associated Press

IOTO, Japan (AP) – Dozens of aging U.S. veterans, many in their early 90s and some in wheelchairs, gathered on the tiny, barren island of Iwo Jima on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of one of the bloodiest and most iconic battles of World War II.

More than 30 veterans flown in from the U.S. island territory of Guam toured the black sand beaches where they invaded the deeply dug-in forces of the island’s Japanese defenders in early 1945.

They were bused to the top of Mount Suribachi, an active volcano, where an Associated Press photo of the raising of the American flag while the battle was still raging became a potent symbol of hope and valor to a war-weary public back home that was growing increasingly disillusioned with the seemingly unending battle in the Pacific.

For some of the veterans, the return to the island where many of their comrades died, and which is still inhabited only by a contingent of Japanese military troops, brought out difficult emotions.

“I hated them,” said former Sgt. John Roy Coltrane, 93, of Siler City, North Carolina. “For 40 years, I wouldn’t even buy anything made in Japan. But now I drive a Honda.”

Speeches at the Reunion of Honor ceremony held near the invasion beach were made by senior Japanese politicians and descendants of the few Japanese who survived the battle. Also speaking were U.S. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus and Gen. Joseph Dunford, the commandant of the Marine Corps, who noted that the battle for Iwo Jima remains the “very ethos” of the Marine Corps today.

“We should never forget that the peace and prosperity of Japan and the United States at present has been built on the sacrifice of precious lives,” Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said in his remarks.

This was the first time that Japanese Cabinet officials attended the anniversary ceremony, now in its 16th year. And while the presence of veterans able to make the grueling trip has been steadily dwindling, the number of participants – about 500 – was double that of last year because of the significance of the 70th year since Japan’s surrender ended World War II.

After the joint memorial, the U.S. and Japanese dignitaries and guests went their separate ways to visit the parts of the island that were of the most significance to their own troops. The Japanese have erected several memorials to their dead, and in a traditional way of placating their souls poured water and placed flowers on the memorial sites.

The Marines invaded Iwo Jima in February 1945, and it was only declared secured after more than a month of fighting. About 70,000 U.S. troops fought more than 20,000 Japanese – only 216 Japanese were captured as POWs and the rest are believed to have been either killed in action or to have taken their own lives.

The island was declared secure on March 16, 1945, but skirmishes continued. In about 36 days of battle, nearly 7,000 U.S. Marines were killed and 20,000 wounded.

It is to this day considered sacred ground to many Japanese. As a haunting reminder of the ferocity of the fighting, search teams continue to dig up more and more Japanese remains each year – it’s estimated that 12,000 have yet to be found.

The United States returned the island to Japan in 1968. Wreckage of military equipment can still be seen dotting some of the beach areas, along with pill boxes and extensive mazes of caves.

Though the idea of developing the island for tourism has been mulled for decades, and possibly using its natural hot springs as an attraction, the island is virtually untouched other than the small airfield used by the Japanese.

Though a tiny volcanic crag, the island – now called Ioto or Iwoto on Japanese maps – was deemed strategically important because it was being used by the Japanese to launch air attacks on American bombers. After its capture, it was used by the U.S. as an emergency landing site for B-29s, which eventually made 2,900 emergency landings there that are estimated to have saved the lives of 24,000 airmen who would have otherwise had to crash at sea.

Twenty-seven Medals of Honor were awarded for action in the battle, more than any other in U.S. military history.

The only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from Iwo Jima, Hershel “Woody” Williams, 91, attended the ceremony. Afterward, he said his feelings toward the Japanese had not changed in the decades since the battle.

“They were just doing their jobs, just like we were,” he said. “We tried to kill them before they could kill us. But that’s war.”

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Last week I had the good fortune of attending the NC Oyster Summit, hosted  by the NC Coastal Federation in the Museum of Natural Sciences. We talked about the wonders that oyster restoration and aquaculture development can do for water quality, economic development, and taste buds. We enjoyed the demonstration of ‘merriore’, or the taste of the sea that lends a particular flavor to each oyster that captures the ecosystem it grew in. Yet, the fact that stuck with me most is that despite all of these wonderful celebrations of the oyster for the health and well-being of NC’s coastal communities, funding cuts of around 40% to the Department of Marine Fisheries mean that a large portion of the Albemarle Sound remains closed to harvest or aquaculture because there are no staff to check those oysters for public health risks.

The “Administrative Closure” of the most northern stretches of the state’s prized Albemarle-Pamlico estuary system is a worrying precedent in many ways that highlight how leadership withdrawal of support for science can trickle down to real economic, environmental, and cultural harm.

Economic flight

The northeastern part of North Carolina is already one of the most sparsely populated regions of the country, and one that remains highly dependent on commercial fishing and tourism for their economy. To those who haven’t been there, this includes the prized Outer Banks, but also miles of low-lying swampland that produces more than its fair share of pickles, blue crabs, and cotton. Until this year, it was also a strong producer of oysters that are high enough up the estuary to hide from the salt-loving diseases that pressure oyster populations elsewhere. Wild harvest watermen no longer have oysters to diversify their portfolio of catch and supply the high-end oyster bars beginning to pop up in tourist hotspots. Aquaculture operations don’t have enough of a distribution network to get their product to market – and even when they do, they have to pay for their own bacterial testing. Aquaculturists at the conference already in the region reported shipping out all their delicious product to Norfolk for processing, which is the next nearest city. But fundamentally, this region is a shaky bet if a youngin’ wants to open their own seafood business, and as a result, more of the youngest generation are leaving for more stable prospects elsewhere, which means less tax dollars from those coastal counties, and continued reduced funding to the Shellfish Sanitation program, and so the cycle turns.

Environmental worries

While no-take areas are popular tools in environmental conservation, an administrative closure does not a marine protected area make. For one, if state agencies can’t monitor for human health pathogens, they certainly can’t observe for poachers in other fisheries. And the oyster guys are no longer out their keeping an eye on their areas either. This leaves hard-won increases in shad and even sturgeon populations in the area at risk. But perhaps more fundamentally, the instability and increased costs with opening an aquaculture business and uncertainty in support for restoration in an area with uncertain future will mean less overall oysters in the water, which is bad news for water quality. Oysters provide habitat for all kinds of other species, but most notably soak up at least some of the nitrogen running off of the pig and cucumber farms that dot the terrestrial landscape. Without the help of aquaculture and restoration efforts, those farms may have to look elsewhere (or pay) for those ecosystem services.

Cultural disappearance

A seafood distributor in Belhaven, one of the tiny towns still left in the region, once described his product as entertainment, rather than seafood. Be it cracking open a blue crab or diving into a table of roasted oysters, seafood currently reigns supreme in charismatic features of the estuary. The area was founded first by the Croatan tribe, who left behind huge middens of oysters, and later the tradition was carried out by Scotch-Irish immigrants who still lend their brogue to the local accent. Closing a huge portion of the shellfishery because the state can’t fund the salary of a public health monitor seems like the state is also turning its back on some of its heritage.

While North Carolina has made huge cuts across the board in its state spending, the more I think about the role of a relatively small program in producing exactly what those cuts are supposed to help achieve – more jobs in the regions of the state that need them the most, in an area with some of the oldest families on the East Coast. You may not believe in big government, but there is certainly a role for minimal government when they can improve the well-being of the state, as is clearly the case here.

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North Carolina’s newly privatized economic development group may create a business advisory board with seats designated as rewards for private funders, board members said during a meeting Friday.

The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina gets most of its funding from state taxpayers, but members of an advisory board could draw its membership from its private funders, said Jim Whitehurst, the CEO of Red Hat and a member of the public-private partnership.

Jim Whitehurst, Red Hat CEO. Source: Red Hat

At Friday’s meeting, Whitehurst said the structure of the business advisory board wasn’t finalized, but he envisioned 20 members from a variety of industries and areas of the state. He said the advisory board would be designed in conjunction with the group’s fundraising plan.

Several seats on the advisory council may go to those who donate to the private arm of the partnership, Whitehurst said, in response to a reporter’s questions after the open portion of Friday’s meeting.

“There may be a few seats for people that are large contributors,” Whitehurst said.

The Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina opened last October, when the state’s business recruitment, tourism and marketing functions were moved out of the state Commerce Department to the newly formed private non-profit.

Lawmakers, when they authorized the move, held the group subject to open meeting and public records laws, and members of the partnership’s board also must adhere to the state ethics law.

The general public is the biggest backer of the partnership, with more than $16 million in public dollars funding the venture.

The partnership has been a key focus of Gov. Pat McCrory’s jobs platform, and he has said the privatized structure will allow the state to pursue jobs leads without being encumbered by state government regulations. Final decisions about tax or other incentives will rest with the state Commerce Secretary.

But skeptics of the move to a public-private partnership have said moving the public dollars into a separate entity may create barriers to accountability.

The privatized setup has had mixed results in other states, and some have seen pay-to-play scandals erupt.

When asked if carving out seats on an advisory board for major funders could give the appearance of a “pay-to-play” culture, Whitehurst said he didn’t think it would. The board would be advisory in nature and funders weren’t being given seats on the larger economic development partnership board that makes decisions, he said.

People “want to have a role in the organization they are funding,” Whitehurst said.

He said he hadn’t considered whether any seats on the advisory board should be offered to members of the general public.

The privatized group has raised $819,500 to date, according to figures provided at the economic development group’s board meeting Friday. It will need to raise a total of $1 million by October to meet targets set by lawmakers , including $250,000 in private funds it needed to start.

That includes an additional $400,000 that have come in since last fall from private funders, with money coming in from companies like MetLife, Bank of American and Wells Fargo.

MetLife, which is in line to receive up to $87.3 million in state incentives for bringing 2,600 positions to Charlotte and Cary, gave $100,000 to the economic development partnership.

The group is also considering in-kind contributes, like a $42,000 worth of computers and technology work provided by Lenovo, to meet their fundraising requirements, according to a summary sheet of donations handed out at the partnership meeting Friday.

Christopher Chung, the new CEO of the economic development partnership, is expected to be at the state legislature Wednesday at the House Commerce Committee.

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Two camps of birds huddle on rooftops next to the Kure Beach pier, seagulls and pigeons. Their ruffled feathers make them appear bigger than their actual size. They are staying warm in the morning, on a late-winter day. I am their sole spectator.

I recall the words of Jules Verne who thought it to be impossible to be lonely near the ocean because it is “stirring with life,” life that draws folks to its sandy shores.

Kure Beach is my home. I, like other coastal residents, worry about offshore drilling coming to North Carolina. The risk of an environmental accident seems great. Images of pelicans soaked in oil are vivid in my memory even five years after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The catastrophic oil spill affected so much and so many.

Last month, concerned citizens were allowed to question Bureau of Ocean Energy Management officials and leave their comments about its draft-leasing program at an open house-style event in Wilmington.

The difference in sentiment between high-profile politicians who welcome big oil along our beaches and coastal communities’ residents, environmentalists, tourism vendors and fishermen is great: We are in two camps, for and against the drilling.

The opinion gap is significant because the federal government ultimately controls the sale of leases in the Atlantic. The Obama administration has made it clear it will allow production where both the public and public officials support development.

Zachary Keith, lead organizer for the N.C. Sierra Club, does not believe that offshore drilling is inevitable. “We’re hoping to mobilize even more people on the coast and around the state to make sure that North Carolina gets excluded from the offshore drilling plan,” he said.

With so many high-profile elected officials supporting offshore drilling along the N.C. coast, I suspect the goal of a statewide drilling exclusion is not realistic.

Gov. Pat McCrory chairs the Outer Continental Shelf Governors Coalition. The group of eight, mostly Republican governors from coastal states was successful in its effort to lobby the Obama administration to open up the Atlantic to offshore drilling.

U.S. Rep. David Rouzer from N.C. District 7 supports offshore drilling. His district covers all of New Hanover, Brunswick and the coastal part of Pender counties. In an email from his office, spokesperson Tyler Foote writes: “Congressman Rouzer supports an all-of the-above energy policy that would help America achieve energy independence.”

North Carolina’s U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr also support drilling on our coast. North Carolina’s high-profile politicians cite the possibility of 55,000 oil-industry jobs.

They seem to discount that the state already has booming tourism and commercial fishing industries. Do they not realize that offshore drilling competes and conflicts with these economic contributors? How can they undervalue their share in our state economy?

“It is very concerning to me that our government … would ignore businesses that provide a thriving tourism industry in favor of an industry which could destroy our coastal environment, in turn destroying lives and futures,” said Tammy Hanson, a Carolina Beach Realtor involved in vacation rentals.

“I think we need to protect the environment and get away from fossil fuels,” said commercial fisherman Scott Pridgen, who fishes at Morehead City and Wrightsville Beach.

The larger question might be about representation. Who are high-profile politicians representing in their jobs as public servants? It seems that most are representing the oil industry and that any opposition to offshore drilling is disregarded, even during a time set aside for public comment.

McCrory recently announced that seismic testing could begin in the Atlantic Ocean within 18 months. Seismic testing is used to assess the amount of recoverable oil in the seabed. McCrory said that plans are being developed if the coastal states’ infrastructures are found lacking. There might be need for new roads and refineries.

Offshore drilling steamrolls forward, and I wonder whether folks who oppose it will truly have a say and be heard.

Kristine Kaiser of Kure Beach periodically writes a “letter from the east” for The News Observer opinion pages